Last Stand
by Akatsuki210
Summary: Many nations, thousands of people, one fighting spirit.  Drabbles from the Last Great Shinobi War.  One shot, manga spoilers, many characters featured.


**Disclaimer:** I don't own _Naruto_ or any of its characters.

**Warnings:** For the love of all that's good and holy, only read this story if you're up to date with the manga. Contains character death and a little bit of ShikaTema.

* * *

**Last Stand**

_"For he today that sheds his blood with me shall be my brother."-Henry V, Act IV Scene iii (by William Shakespeare)_

"Tou...tou-san?" Neji's usually unflappable composure faltered under the gaze of the man standing before him.

Hyuuga Hizashi looked exactly the way Neji remembered him, except that he wore a black cloak instead of the white kimono traditionally favored by Hyuuga men. The Cursed Seal on his forehead was bared, a mirror to the one hidden under Neji's hitai-ate.

"Please forgive me, Neji," he said sadly. "I do not have a choice in this." He took up the characteristic Jyuuken stance and lunged at his son.

Many would have frozen upon being attacked by a resurrected member of their family, but anger flowed through Neji, and he blocked each of his father's strikes with one of his own. _How dare they? Isn't it enough that my father, as one of the Branch House, was controlled by the Seal while he was alive? It's not right for him to be made a pawn in death too!_

Although Neji was a genius within the Hyuuga clan, Hizashi had many more years of battle experience. Neji quickly realized that his father was gaining the upper hand. In one corner of his Byakugan-enhanced vision, he saw Hinata approaching, a look of horror on her face. "Hizashi-san! Please, s-stop!"

Most people outside the Hyuuga clan considered the Byakugan to be inscrutable, but those within the clan knew how to read emotions in its blank whiteness. Neji saw his father's eyes light up with hope and determination at the sight of the clan heir. "Hinata-sama!" Hizashi called. "Please, don't let me do this!"

Hinata had been shaking, but the trembling slowly stopped when Hizashi called out to her. She nodded, and her face assumed the same fierce expression as when she had tried to save Naruto from Pain. "Do not worry, Hizashi-san. I will protect Neji-nii-san." She raised her hands, and blue chakra gathered around them, looking like the growling faces of twin lions.

"No!" Hizashi shouted. "That won't work! This body can regenerate from all but the most severe damage. There's only one way for you to save him, Hinata-sama. You must use the Seal!"

Neji gasped, and narrowly missed being hit by one of his father's strikes.

Hinata was equally aghast. "B-But, I can't do that! The S-Seal is..." She swallowed hard, then found the courage to say what she had always thought in the back of her mind. "The Seal is evil! I won't continue using it the way the past Clan Heads have!"

"Hinata-sama," Neji said quietly, "Tou-san is already being controlled by someone. You won't be using it to oppress him, but to _free_ him."

Still, Hinata hesitated. Naruto had taught her that a person could change, and she had hoped to prove that this was true for a whole clan as well. She had hoped that, as clan heir, she could guide her family away from the practice of using the Seal, and perhaps even merge the Head and Branch Houses. How could she do that if she used the Seal herself?

"Neji's right," Hizashi told her. "I once chose to sacrifice myself, because it was the one choice I _could_ make for myself. Now, I will do the same again. I would rather return to the afterlife than harm my son or my fellow Leaf shinobi. Please, Hinata-sama, use the Seal."

Hinata was shaking again, and there were tears welling up in her eyes, but she managed to form a handseal that none outside the Hyuuga clan had ever seen. "I-I will do as you ask, Hizashi-san. I will lock the bird inside a cage to free it from a greater cage."

The seal on Hizashi's forehead flared green, and he fell to his knees, clutching his head in pain.

"Tou-san!" Heedless of the danger, Neji ran to his father and put an arm around his shoulders.

Hizashi smiled. "The...chakra disruption is...interfering with the Edo Tensei jutsu. I..." He bent over in pain again, but then straightened and looked into Neji's eyes. "I am so...so proud of you." He turned to Hinata. "And of you as well. Our family is in good hands..."

Tears streamed down Neji's face as his father crumbled to dust. He could feel Hinata's presence at his back. She was wringing her hands, clearly trying to decide whether she should give him a hug or keep her distance. "I'm so s-sorry, Neji-nii-san, I'm so-"

"Hinata-sama." Neji cut her off and she cringed, clearly expecting anger or a rebuke of some sort. But instead, Neji smiled gently. "Thank you."

* * *

Yamato groaned. He'd been struggling against the influence of the Gedo Mazou statue for days now, but his strength was starting to ebb. He could feel his chakra draining away, being used to fuel the creation of more Zetsu clones for Madara's army. Blood leaked from a hundred tiny cuts, the cells being integrated into the clones.

_Figures_, he thought bitterly. _I've come so far, and here I am being used as a guinea pig again._ He dimly remembered his childhood in Orochimaru's lab, although the memories were fuzzy and fragmented. He recalled seeing the pale, golden-eyed Sannin bending over him, inspecting the seals placed on his body.

_"He doesn't seem to be rejecting Shodaime-sama's cells like the others. This one might actually be a success."_

His parents had been killed during an attack on Konoha when he was a baby. In the confusion, Orochimaru had stolen him away, and the rest of the village assumed that he too had died. Although he had tried, he had never been able to recall his mother or father's faces.

He gathered up the last shreds of his chakra, and probed outward with them. The structure surrounding him was made of wood, but Kabuto's poison prevented him from manipulating it. _If only I could destroy it!_ He knew that he didn't have enough chakra left for that, but he could feel his chakra intertwining with the part of the statue that was immediately surrounding him. He tried to reach out to it, willing it to take on the shape he wanted, but he couldn't focus his chakra sharply enough under the influence of the poison.

_Come on, Yamato, you can do this. You're a clone of the First Hokage. Would __**he**__ have let a little poison stop him from protecting his comrades?_

Yamato remembered again the time he had spent as Orochimaru's experimental subject. _Orochimaru, I know that a part of you lives on in Kabuto. But I won't be your pawn anymore! It's time to turn what you did to me against you!_ He gritted his teeth and forced his chakra to take the shape he wanted. Blood flowed faster from the cuts all over his body, but he ignored it. _I may not be able to escape, or to destroy this statue. But I can make sure that you won't be able to make any more of those clones from me. I won't let you use my own body to destroy my comrades!_

He could only influence a tiny portion of the statue, but it was enough. A thin tendril lanced out from the part of the statue that was holding him down and pierced his heart.

_I remember!_

Yamato's eyes opened wide as the images flooded his mind.

_Tou-san..._

_Kaa-san..._

_I remember you!_

His eyes closed.

* * *

"I'm sorry," Haku whispered as several Sand-nin fell to the ground, pierced by ice needles. Across the clearing, Zabuza leaned on his sword.

"Are you two all right?" A boy with light hair and a scar crossing one eye approached the two former Mist-nin.

Zabuza's fist clenched around the hilt of his sword. "Why the hell should you care, Yagura?"

Yagura raised an eyebrow. "Shouldn't you be addressing me as Mizukage-sama?"

Zabuza snorted. "I tried to _kill_ you, and you're complaining about me using the wrong form of address?"

Yagura turned away, and his next words were so soft that Zabuza could barely hear them. "Do you know...when you tried to kill me, I actually hoped you'd succeed."

"What? Why?"

"Because I didn't do all those things of my own free will. Starting wars with other nations, the purges of the Advanced Bloodline clans...I never wanted to do those things."

"I don't get it. You were the Mizukage; you were in charge. What do you mean you didn't act of your own will?"

"It was...much like this, actually, except that I wasn't dead at the time."

Zabuza's eyes widened. "You mean you were being mind-controlled?"

Yagura nodded. "By Uchiha Madara. He used his Sharingan to force me to submit to his will. He believed that the bloodline clans were a threat to him, so he made me destroy them. He didn't want the other villages to suspect that I was being manipulated, so he made me start wars to alienate all the other countries."

"But how is that possible?" Zabuza asked. "I've faced the Sharingan before, and I know it's a fearsome power, but you were a jinchuuriki. Shouldn't the bijuu inside you have been able to force Madara out of your mind?"

Yagura shook his head. "I don't know. Somehow, he maintained control over me, even though the Sanbi and I both fought against him with all our might. When you and your men confronted me, Zabuza-san, I was so glad. I hoped that you would kill me, so that I could stop slaughtering my own countrymen. But Madara made me fight you with everything I had, including the Sanbi. It was all I could do to give you a chance to get away."

Haku had been listening to this conversation from the sidelines, and now he stepped forward. "Mizukage-sama...do you know who I am?"

Yagura was silent for a long time. Finally, he said, "I don't recognize your face, but I saw you using ice needles before, so I'd guess you're from one of the Advanced Bloodlines."

"Yes. My mother survived the purges, but when my father found out what she was, he killed her. He tried to kill me too, and I...I..." He swallowed hard. "I'd never used my Bloodline Limit before. I couldn't control it very well. I was just trying to protect myself, and I was so scared that I wasn't thinking straight, just acting on instinct..."

To Haku's amazement, Yagura knelt and touched his forehead to the ground. "I don't want to kill any more of my own people. Not again. I have to be stopped, and I suppose it's only fair for you to be the one to do it."

"Will Kabuto let us?" Haku asked.

Zabuza tilted his head to one side, as if listening to something. "Something's going on elsewhere. Someone's actually giving him trouble. His attention is somewhere else, but it won't stay there forever."

"I'd better act quickly, then." Haku palmed a set of needles, as Yagura stood and spread his arms.

"This should make it easy for you."

Haku nodded, and threw the needles. They flew through the air and unerringly hit Yagura's chakra points. The former Mizukage smiled as he collapsed bonelessly to the ground.

"Is he dead again?"

Haku shook his head. "No. It's like that trick I used the first time we fought Naruto-kun and his friends. He's just unconscious."

Zabuza smiled. "Merciful even to him, eh? Now do the same for me. I don't want to kill any more Mist-nin either."

Haku reached for his needles, but his hand abruptly stopped moving. "It's...Kabuto...He's reasserting control..."

Haku and Zabuza's eyes seemed to glaze over, and they left the clearing.

* * *

Sakura gritted her teeth and forced more chakra into the injured Stone-nin's leg. She could feel the broken femur beginning to knit back together. "Lee-san, how are you doing? Do you need a food pill?"

"Do not worry about me, Sakura-san! I will defend you while you heal the wounded!" Sakura heard a series of dull thumps as a few more Zetsu clones hit the ground.

"Just be careful! I don't want you to damage your body by overusing the Gates. If you're getting tired, let me know, and I'll give you a food pill to replenish your chakra." Sakura wiped sweat off her forehead. "Speaking of taking a food pill..." She popped one into her mouth and scrutinized the Stone-nin. "You'll be okay now," she told him, "but you shouldn't re-enter combat for a while. Rest in that medical tent over there."

"But my comrades are still fighting! I have to-"

Sakura cracked her knuckles. "Rest. In. That. Medical. Tent."

"Y...Yes, Medic-san!"

"Sakura-san!" Sakura whirled around towards the source of the panicked voice. Karui ran into the medical camp at full speed, carrying an unconscious Omoi in her arms. "He's been stabbed and I can't stop the bleeding!"

"Bring him over here." Sakura barely managed to stifle a gasp of dismay as Karui set Omoi down in front of her. He had been stabbed in the chest, and his entire front was soaked with blood. His pulse was thready, and his breathing was shallow, accompanied by an alarming whistling sound. "His left lung's been punctured," she told Karui. "There's blood seeping into it."

"What does that mean? Is he going to die?"

"Not if I can help it."

"Is there anything I can do?"

"Because the injured don't have much mobility, we have to stay in one place, and that makes us a prime target for those clones. Can you help Lee-san hold them off?"

"Of course! No one's gonna come after Omoi when he's injured if I have anything to say about it!"

Sakura turned back to Omoi for a more detailed examination. _Okay, the first step is to stop the bleeding._ She extracted a syringe from her medical case and inserted it into Omoi's bicep. _This clotting agent Tsunade developed should help._ _Now I've got to repair the damage to his lung._ This, she knew, would be painstaking work. It wasn't enough to just patch the holes-she also had to reconstruct the delicate alveoli where oxygenation of the blood occurred. She emitted medical chakra, being careful to precisely control the flow. She coaxed cells into dividing, blood vessels into regrowing.

Her single-minded concentration was suddenly disrupted by a scream from behind her. She turned to see that a large group of Zetsu clones had renewed their assault on the medical camp. Lee and Karui were fending them off, but Karui had taken a deep slashing wound to one arm. "I'm fine!" Karui yelled when she saw Sakura watching. "Keep treating Omoi!"

Sakura returned her focus to her patient, trying not to be distracted when she felt the massive chakra release of Lee opening the Sixth Gate. She continued repairing the damage to Omoi's lung, once again feeling the telltale symptoms of chakra drain. She knew that food pills were an artificial way of increasing one's chakra supplies, and that it wasn't healthy to take too many in a row. Nevertheless, she took another food pill and continued working.

Then Omoi's heart skipped a beat.

Sakura shifted her attention to Omoi's heart. His pulse was becoming erratic, a consequence of the trauma he'd suffered. She knew exactly what Tsunade would do in a situation like this: she'd administer a small amount of lightning chakra to reset the heart's rhythm. Unfortunately, Sakura's natural chakra type was water. Tsunade had been trying to teach her lightning element mastery, but Sakura's command of it so far was spotty at best. _And if I accidentally administer too much chakra, I could kill him!_

Behind her, she heard a shout of, "Asa Kujaku!" and she briefly saw Lee leaping into the air from the corner of her eye. _They're both fighting so hard, just to give me the time to treat him. I can't just sit back and let him die! I have to try!_ She took a deep breath and closed her eyes, forcing herself to ignore the sounds of battle coming from all around her. For this, her concentration had to be perfect.

Sakura focused her mind entirely on the chakra within her. It was indeed like water, calm and placid but capable of bursting forth like a tidal wave if needed. But there was something else, buried deep within it. A spark, like the tiniest flicker of static electricity.

Sakura mentally reached out and grasped that spark, channeling it through her body. It hummed in her hands, and she slowly lowered them to within an inch of Omoi's chest.

And once again, she heard a scream. This one was louder, and it cut off abruptly. She knew immediately what that scream meant. _Karui-san!_

Sakura steadied herself. _Karui-san wouldn't want me to get distracted and screw this up. She gave her life to protect her teammate, and I owe it to her to save him!_ "Lee-san," she whispered, "I can't stop this procedure. Please, keep them away for just a few more minutes."

"Have no fear, Sakura-san!"

The lightning chakra flowing through her body stimulated the regions of her brain responsible for processing sensory input, making her hearing and smell more acute. She could tell that they were surrounded by more clones than ever, and now Lee was fighting alone.

She pressed her hands to Omoi's chest and prepared to release a miniscule amount of the lightning chakra stored in her body.

Then a hand grabbed her arm roughly. It didn't feel anything like Lee's.

"Get away from her!" Lee kicked the Zetsu in the face, and it released her. But there were more of them, so many more.

"Lee-san..."

"I'll protect you," Lee said. "I told you the first time we met: I'll protect you until I die!" He flashed her a gleaming smile and his trademark thumbs-up pose, and then he turned to face the Zetsu horde. "Behold the majesty of Leaf's Noble Green Beast!"

Sakura completed the release of chakra, and scanned Omoi carefully for any sign of effect. His heart stopped completely, and Sakura's own almost followed its lead.

Then it began to beat again, its proper rhythm restored.

And at the same moment, she heard the words that would save both her life and Omoi's:

"Eighth Gate, open!"

* * *

Lightning sparked around the Raikage's fist as he swung, and the same lightning flashed on his father's gauntlets as the older man blocked. Despite having only one arm, E was almost evenly matched with his predecessor. But he knew that this wouldn't last forever-like the other Edo Tensei souls, the resurrected former Raikage was tireless and capable of regenerating any injury.

"Why are you letting them do this to you?" he asked as he dodged a kick. "You know they're going to kill Bee-kun! Don't you remember what you said to me when Kaa-san died?"

_The four-year-old E sobbed into his father's shoulder. The Raikage had one arm around him, cradling E's baby brother in the other. Tears streamed down the Raikage's face, and the infant Bee was strangely silent, as if he knew that something was wrong._

_"E-kun..." The Raikage's voice was hoarse, and he felt his heart twist as his older son raised his tear-stained face. "E-kun, I...I know this is going to be very hard for all of us. But we have to stick together as a family. We have to help each other through this, the way your mother would want us to do. And we have to look after Bee-kun. Your mother gave her life to bring him into the world. We have to honor that sacrifice by protecting him, no matter what."_

"Do you remember that, Tou-san? You said that we had to look out for Bee-kun, and I never forgot that. That's why I argued to the Elders that we should give him the Hachibi when you died. I thought that the power of the Hachibi would make him stronger, so that he could protect himself. How can you be trying to capture and kill him?"

The former Raikage lunged at his son, and their lighting auras clashed off each other as E barely sidestepped. "I don't want to be doing this! But I don't have a choice!"

"Since when did you ever let anyone force you to do something you didn't want to? You always taught me that a man has to find his own path to walk, and make the choies that that he believes are best regardless of what others think! Have you forgotten your own words?" He clenched his fist, and the lightning aura around it grew thicker, solidifying into a luminous blade. "_I_ haven't forgotten. I'll protect Bee-kun no matter what, even if it means killing you with my own hands!"

The former Raikage smiled. "Then come at me, if you think you can."

E barreled forward, and he saw his father's lightning aura flare just before the blade stabbed into his chest. Knowing that the Edo Tensei bodies could regenerate, he wrenched the blade free and readied it for a decapitation strike.

"Wait!" The former Raikage held up a hand, and deactivated his lightning aura.

E blinked. "What are you doing?" _Why is Kabuto having him leave himself defenseless? Is this some kind of trap?_

"Kabuto is forcing us to pursue general goals, but because he doesn't know much about the fighting styles of most of his summons, he's left specific tactics up to us. Changing my lightning aura isn't something he'd find suspicious, because adjusting one's defenses based on an opponent's attack is a normal thing to do in battle. So he didn't notice when I channeled the lightning chakra through my own brain to temporarily disrupt my neural pathways. Doing so disabled the jutsu he's using to exert his mind-control."

"Then...you're acting freely now?"

"Yes. But it won't be long before he notices and banishes me back to the afterlife. We have to hurry."

"Hurry to do what?"

The former Raikage grinned. "I haven't forgotten what I told you all those years ago. You're fighting to protect Bee-kun, and for whatever time I have left, I'm going to help you."

E matched his father's smile. "We never got to do much fighting together as father and son when you were alive. I think I'll enjoy making up for lost time."

With a flash and a crack of thunder, the two men sprinted across the battlefield.

* * *

Shikamaru gasped for breath as his shadows pierced another squadron of Zetsu clones. _How many of them __**are**__ there?_ Sweat trickled down his face, and his arms trembled as he held the seal for his jutsu. The clones used simple tactics, but they didn't _need_ to do anything more complicated when they could overwhelm by sheer numbers. "Are you guys okay?" he asked his squadmates.

Chouji nodded, returning to his normal size. "I'm all right, but the yellow pill is close to running out."

"Switch over to normal soldier pills if needed. I don't want you using the red pill unless there's absolutely no other option. Ino?"

"I'm fine. The tactic of possessing one clone in a group with Shinranshin and turning him against the others seems to be working so far."

"Good. Chouji, pass me another soldier pill, I need-"

He broke off as they were rushed by another group of clones. Chouji reached out, his arm enlarging as he extended it to crush five of them at once, while Shikamaru sent his shadow racing toward some of the others.

Ino just stood there.

"Ino? Ino, what are you doing? Try to capture one of them with Shinranshin!"

Ino remained motionless and silent, and Shikamaru began to wonder if something was wrong. He remembered that Ino had been grazed by a kunai during the previous attack. _Could someone in that last group have had poison on their weapons?_

"Shikamaru! One of the clones in this group...I don't know how, but...one of them has a Sharingan!"

_She's under genjutsu!_ "Don't look at its face, Chouji! Make that one your first priority to destroy, but keep your eyes on its feet!"

"Right!"

Shikamaru's mind raced. Escaping from genjutsu required disturbing your own chakra flow. As a sensor and medic, Ino had good enough chakra control to be adept at this, but any efforts she was making didn't appear to be working. _She needs a partner to help her break out._ But Shikamaru knew that if he broke off his own attacks to help her, Chouji would be in danger. _If the genjutsu is simply preventing her from taking action, I can concentrate on eliminating the enemies for now and worry about removing the genjutsu afterward. I'll need to expend extra energy on defense, however, since she can't dodge on her own in this state._

Then Ino moved, pulling a kunai out of her weapon holster and raising it to chest height. _Good, she broke out of it._ But then Shikamaru noticed the blank look on her face, and the dull, glazed appearance of her eyes. Instead of throwing the kunai at a Zetsu, Ino slowly pulled it toward her own throat.

"Ino!" _What do I do? If I don't break her out, Zetsu's going to make her kill herself! But if I stop to help her, Chouji may get killed!_ "Chouji, find that Zetsu with the Sharingan and kill it _now_!"

"I'm trying, but the others are protecting it!"

"Chouji, Ino's going to die if I don't break the genjutsu, but without my shadows-"

"I'll be okay! You help Ino!"

"Chouji-"

"I'll take the red pill if I have to! I don't care if you're the squad leader, now _I'm _giving _you_ an order! Help Ino!"

Shikamaru took a shaky breath and prepared to withdraw his shadows. Suddenly, a shape dropped down in front of him from above. _Shit!_ Thinking that it was another Zetsu, he reached into his supply pouch for a smoke bomb. Then he saw the four blond pigtails and the unfurling fan.

"Kirikiri Mai!"

A whirling vortex of wind surrounded Team 10, cutting through the assembled clones like a knife through butter. All around him, Shikamaru could hear the sound of massive trees toppling to the ground.

When the wind died down, Shikamaru was astonished to see all the Zetsu clones lying on the ground, cut to pieces.

"Ino! Ino, are you okay?" Chouji was holding Ino tightly, his desperate face turned to Shikamaru. "What do we need to do, Shikamaru?"

"Oh..." Ino shivered and rubbed her head.

"She's okay! Shikamaru, she's recovering!"

Shikamaru grinned. "I know. The genjutsu must have faded away on its own when its caster died." He turned to face their rescuer.

Temari looked smug. "Why does it seem like I always have to keep saving you?"

The danger past, Shikamaru allowed himself to groan. "Saved by a girl again. I am _never_ going to live this one down."

Temari snorted. "Are you still babbling about irrelevant stuff like that?"

Once her head had cleared, Ino looked around in confusion. "Huh? What's going on? How did Temari-san get here?"

A voice came through Shikamaru's radio headset. "Leaf Team 10, we need you over in Sector 3."

"Right, guys, let's get going," Shikamaru said.

Temari folded her fan as they moved off. "Hey! Shikamaru, when this is all over, you should take me out to dinner!"

"W-What?"

Ino smirked. "I think that's a great idea!"

"So do I," Chouji said. Although there was no trace of guile in his voice, his eyes twinkled mischeviously.

_They're ganging up on me!_ Shikamaru realized with alarm. _Well, I suppose a wise shinobi has to know when he's beaten._ "...Sure."

"And you'll be paying," Temari added. "Since you're the one who's always talking about men and women, you can at least be chivalrous."

Shikamaru groaned again, while Chouji and Ino tried to suppress laughter. "...Sure." _So troublesome..._

"Great! Now that that's settled, I have to go back up some Stone-nin." Temari started to sprint away.

"Temari-san!" Shikamaru called after her. "Be careful."

Temari flashed him that infuriating grin. "You don't need to worry about me! I'll always come back to bail you out when you need it." Then she disappeared past a formation of boulders.

_So troublesome...but worth it.

* * *

_

"Naruto! Naruto!" Sakura peeked out from the boulder she was sheltering behind, searching for any trace of her friend. "I can't see anything with all the debris flying around! Gamakichi-san, can you tell what's going on?"

Gamakichi shook his massive head. "I don't know exactly. Naruto-kun is using his Sage Mode and Fuuton: Rasenshuriken, but this Edo Tensei is too fast. He keeps dodging or repelling the jutsu."

There was another shockwave, and Sakura dug her fingers into the boulder, keeping it from falling on top of her with her massive strength. "Can't his own people get through to him?"

"It's not that easy," Gamakichi responded. "His mind is under Kabuto's control, and no one's capable of breaking the jutsu."

"Then our only chance is to take him down somehow," Ibiki said from his place next to Sakura.

"That's what Naruto's trying to do. But he's just so fast! Naruto said his real body was crippled when he was alive, but he seems to be fine now, even faster than any of the surrogate bodies that Naruto fought before."

"Sakura-san!" A young woman approached, sprinting from one boulder to another in the five seconds of relative safety that they were allotted. She carried an unmoving man over her shoulder. "You've got to help him! The idiot took a blast for me."

"Not...an idiot," the man objected weakly as the woman set him down beside Sakura. "You're our...leader...got to protect..."

"You're an _idiot_, Aoki."

"I'll take care of him, Akisane-san," Sakura said, sharing a glance with Ibiki. The battle had already been raging for hours when troops from Amegakure had shown up, bearing the news that Konan had died and left them instructions to aid the Shinobi Alliance in its fight against Madara. The leader of their forces had distributed them among the battalions and then leapt into the fray herself. The additional troops had closed part of the numbers gap between the Shinobi Alliance and the Zetsu clone army, but the latest of Kabuto's undead summons was wreaking havoc.

Sakura bent down to treat Aoki, while Akisane conferred with Ibiki. "I don't understand why he doesn't use a couple of Kage Bunshin to hold the summon in place while he destroys it." Not once, Sakura noticed, had the other kunoichi referred to the Nagato summon by either his given name or his chosen alias of Pain.

"He's been using Human Realm's soul-rip ability on anyone who engages him in close combat," Ibiki explained. "A clone would dissipate as soon as he touched it, rendering it useless."

"So you're saying a real person has to do it."

"Yes, I think so," Ibiki replied. "But if Naruto-san didn't bring him down fast enough, there's a high chance that person would die."

There was another blast, and everyone clung to the boulder. Sakura saw that Akisane's shoulders were shaking, and she was making a strange noise, as if she was laughing and crying at the same time. "What is it?"

"I just realized," Akisane said with a sniffle, "that I'm going to set a record for shortest-ever tenure as village leader."

"What?" Sakura looked up. "Wait!" But the Rain general was already gone.

"You worry about treating Aoki-san, I'll make sure no one gets close," Ibiki assured her.

"I think the repeated Shinra Tensei is doing that just fine," Sakura muttered.

Ibiki watched as Akisane darted towards Nagato, pulling a glove off her left hand as she went. The hand beneath was a construction of wood and metal, with a black scorpion branded on the palm. The fingertips slid back, and glistening needles shot out from the hollow spaces within. With three seconds left before he could use Shinra Tensei again, Nagato simply let the needles hit him. The poison had no effect, but the new attacker made him turn his back to Naruto, and that was all that mattered.

Akisane continued to close with Nagato, and both reached out at the same time. The Ame-nin fired her last needles directly into Nagato's Rinnegan eyes, and he grasped her forehead with one hand. He started to pull his hand back, and something blue and glowing began to emerge from the top of Akisane's head.

"Why did you run in like that?" Nagato asked sadly.

"Because I'm..." More of Akisane's soul was removed, and her lips stilled. But Nagato could hear the rest of her words as Human Realm's ability scanned her mind. _Because I'm the leader of Amegakure now. That means the responsibility for stopping this desecration of our village's god is mine...even if I have to accompany you back to the afterlife._

Nagato drew his hand back further, so that half of Akisane's soul was outside of her body. At that moment, a high-pitched whine echoed across the battlefield as a spinning disk of chakra sliced through the air. It slammed into Nagato, and its microscopic blades of wind chakra severed the chakra conduits in every cell of the body that housed him. Finding themselves with no chakra network to manipulate, the Edo Tensei and mind-control jutsu broke. Nagato smiled as his hand spasmed open and Akisane's soul slipped back into her body.

Naruto sprinted over to Nagato. "Nagato-san, I'm sorry, but this was the only way to stop you! And...I figured that you wouldn't want to hurt people anymore."

Nagato smiled. "Thank you, Naruto-kun." He slumped to the ground, ash and dust falling away from the corpse that Kabuto had sacrificed to bring Nagato back. "I know...that my dream is...safe with you..."

"Naruto...san..." Akisane was swaying on her feet, face pale and hands trembling. Naruto caught her as she fell to her knees.

"Don't try to talk! Sakura-san! Please come help!"

Sakura rushed over, medical chakra already glowing around her hands. "Nagato-san's body shielded her from most of the Fuuton: Rasenshuriken's effects, but there's been some damage to her chakra system. Nothing permanent, but she's out of the battle for now. And..." Sakura's eyes widened in shock. "I've never seen neural activity like this! It's like her brain's trying to process an incredible amount of sensory information, but it's not coming from any of the normal sense organs."

"Naruto...you need to see..." Weakly, Akisane pushed Sakura away and raised her hands to form a series of seals. "This is yours...I think..."

"Huh? Is that a jutsu? You shouldn't be trying to do jutsu! Just rest, Sakura-san'll take care of you!"

"I promised...saw so many people...so many, all watching and hoping...all trusting you...One of them called out...asked me to show you..." She made the seals again, and Naruto grasped her hands.

"Okay, I get it! I remember the seals! You kept your promise, you can rest now."

Ibiki and Gamakichi arrived as Sakura led Akisane away toward the medical tents. "I don't get it," he said to them. "Why are those seals so important? And who would want me to know them?"

"What seals?" Ibiki asked. Naruto demonstrated and color drained from the older man's face, so that his scars stood out even more sharply than usual.

"_What_? What's wrong? She said somebody asked her to show me that jutsu, but I don't get what it's supposed to be, or why she'd make such a big deal out of it."

"Naruto-kun," Ibiki said solemnly, "I fought alongside Konoha's Yellow Flash in a few battles of the last great Ninja War, and I've seen those seals before. They're for a jutsu that only one man has ever mastered. Those are the seals for Hiraishin."

* * *

"Naruto!" Kiba rode up on Akamaru, breathing hard. "You're needed over in Sector 12! They're having a really hard time dealing with-" Kiba broke off as a shadow fell over him from the cliff above. Someone jumped down, flipping once in midair before landing between him and Naruto.

"No way..." Kiba breathed. He'd never met the man before, but he recognized him from the Bingo Book. _Uchiha Itachi!_ "Akamaru, close your eyes! We'll use scent to keep track of him!" Akamaru barked in agreement.

"Jinjuu Konbi Henge: Soutourou!" Kiba and Akamaru's bodies merged together and expanded, creating a two-headed white wolf that was nearly as tall as the cliff it stood next to.

_Garouga!_ Thewolf charged Itachi, who still stood between Kiba and Naruto. There was no need to scent mark him, for the rotting smell of the corpse that housed Itachi's soul was overwhemingly pungent to Kiba and Akamaru's sensitive noses. They were spinning so fast that the human eye couldn't follow them. This, of course, meant that they couldn't see where they were going, hence the need to guide themselves by scent. Against an opponent like Itachi, it was also an advantage, since he couldn't set eyes on them long enough to use his deadliest offensive techniques.

Guided by the smell of the corpse, Kiba and Akamaru drove unerringly towards the former Leaf-nin...only to slam into a wall of pure chakra. They were thrown backwards, and their jutsu dissolved as their concentration was disrupted.

Painfully getting to his feet, Kiba gazed up at the shape that now surrounded Itachi. It was vaguely humanoid, although it had no legs and its arms were unnaturally long. One hand held a glowing blade, and the other a shining shield. "What the hell is that?"

"This is Susano'o," Itachi answered calmly. "I would advise you to run, although I do not believe you have the necessary speed to evade the Sword of Totsuka."

Akamaru snarled. _Don't underestimate us!_

"Heh, that's right, Akamaru. We know you people want to capture Naruto, and we aren't gonna let that happen!"

Naruto, meanwhile, was standing stock-still. If Kiba hadn't known better, he would have thought Naruto had frozen in the face of Susano'o's overwhelming defensive power. His eyes were wide, his face was pale, and sweat trickled down his temples. His throat was working, as if he were swallowing convulsively, and Kiba wondered whether he was about to be sick. "Naruto, don't worry about us! We weren't badly hurt!"

"That is not the problem," Itachi said. "Naruto-kun, you must release the power quickly if you wish to stop me."

_What power is that?_ Kiba wondered. _Is he talking about that Sage thing Naruto used to beat Pain?_ Itachi spun around to face Kiba, and Susano'o raised the Sword of Totsuka over its head. Akamaru stood protectively in front of his master, hackles raised.

Naruto sputtered and coughed. Kiba watched in horror as a bulge moved up his throat and something burst from his mouth. It looked like a crow with eyes made of flame. Akamaru whined. _That thing's made of chakra, and a lot of it!_ The crow flew unhindered through the barrier surrounding Itachi. The resurrected Akatsuki member opened his own mouth, and the crow plunged in. Kiba gaped. _What the __**fuck**__?_

The Sword of Totsuka paused at the apex of its swing, and Susano'o itself flickered out of existence. "Thank you, Naruto-kun, for restoring me in time."

"Restoring you? I don't get it. What just happened?" Kiba looked to Akamaru, who yipped in confusion. _That crow was made of Itachi's chakra. Somehow, having it merge into him made him stop attacking us, but I don't know why!_

"That crow was made from my chakra-in essence, it was a piece of my soul. It was unaffected by Kabuto's mind-control jutsu and was thus able to break the rest of my soul out. Furthermore, since it never left this world, it is able to anchor the rest of my soul here, so Kabuto cannot simply unsummon me."

"So now what? Do you still want to capture Naruto?" Kiba demanded. "I mean, you're still Akatsuki, right?"

"Ninja," Itachi replied sadly, "deal in secrets and deception. Not everyone is as they appear." He turned away and sprinted up the sheer cliffside.

"Hey!" Naruto called after him. "Where are you going?"

Itachi looked back over his shoulder. "I believe that I need to have a word with my younger brother." Then he was gone.

Kiba looked from Akamaru to Naruto to the now-empty cliff, and back again. "What the _hell_ was all that about?"

"I'll explain it when this is all over," Naruto told him. "For now, what did you start to say about me being needed somewhere?"

"Oh, yeah, they need you in Sector 12. They're being attacked by one of those Edo Tensei, backed up by a bunch of Zetsu clones."

"Well, let's go, then! Lead the way!"

"Right!" Kiba and Akamaru bounded off towards Sector 12, with Naruto close behind. As they made their way through the rubble and groups of fighting shinobi, an enraged bellow echoed across the battlefield, emanating from what they thought to be Sasuke's location: "YOU'RE SAYING MADARA DID **WHAT** WITH THE KYUUBI?"

* * *

"Naruto-san, please, you must not let me kill your friends!" Haku's image flickered from one mirror to another as he pleaded with Naruto.

"But I don't want to kill _you_!"

"Naruto-san, do you remember what I told you the last time we met? I told you that each of us was fighting for our own dream. You are still fighting for your dream, and if you don't stop me, I'm afraid that I'll destroy it!" As he spoke, Haku unleashed another flurry of needles that seemed to come from all directions at once.

"Watch out, kid," Fukasaku warned from his perch atop Naruto's shoulder. Since gaining full control of the Kyuubi, Naruto had been able to merge with Fukasaku and Shima as Jiraiya once had.

"I know!" Naruto said, and with the enhanced speed granted to him by Sage Mode, he was able to easily dodge Haku's needle assault.

"Naruto-san!" Haku sounded more urgent now. "That other time, you _did_ finally come at me with intent to kill, when I reminded you that your friend, whom you thought I had killed, had dreams of his own that he would never have a chance to fulfill because of what I had done. If you can't bring yourself to send me back to the afterlife, the dreams of _all_ people will be destroyed."

"That kid's right," Shima said. "Kabuto's pulled these people back from their rightful place of rest and forced them to fight. You ain't doin' anything bad by sending them back. Plus, we'll all be joining 'em if you don't."

Naruto nodded slowly. "Then I guess the first thing we've gotta do is bust out of these mirrors." He formed a Rasengan and charged at the mirror directly across from him. When it hit, spiraling cracks spread out across the mirror from the point of impact, until the whole thing shattered. Having escaped from the circle of mirrors, Naruto turned to face Haku, who was emerging from an intact mirror on the left.

"Don't worry, kid, I've got him!" Fukasaku sprayed a jet of water from his mouth. It cut a narrow trench in the ground as it sped towards Haku, and then slammed into the resurrected ninja, cleanly bisecting him.

"But that won't work, right?" Naruto watched as leaves and grass floated up from the ground and rejoined the two halves of Haku. He hadn't even been completely reformed when he threw another barrage of needles, and Naruto found that even with Sage Mode, he could barely dodge them. Although he was tired from his fight with Nagato, that alone couldn't explain the difficulty.

"Eh? What happened there?" asked Shima, evidently as confused as Naruto.

"I no longer need to worry about damaging my body," Haku explained helpfully. "Because of that, I can move faster. If I had tried to move so quickly while alive, I would have torn muscles, but that's not a concern anymore." He flicked his hands, but instead of needles, the shards of the broken mirror flew through the air. Naruto tried to dodge, but found that his feet wouldn't move. Looking down, he saw that they were stuck in a large ice mirror.

"I'm so sorry," said Haku, "but when your frog shot that suiton at me, I was able to freeze the water."

Naruto released some of the Kyuubi's chakra. A red glow surrounded his feet, and the ice began to melt. He pulled his left foot free, but the ice shards were still speeding toward him.

A dark blur interposed itself between Naruto and the oncoming pieces of mirror, and there was a grunt of pain. Naruto's eyes widened as he saw the small Uchiha crest on the back of the man who'd just saved him.

"He's all right, mostly," said Fukasaku. "He was able to keep himself from getting hit in any vital spots."

"But...why jump in front of me at all?" Naruto asked. "I wanted you to come back, Sasuke, but I never asked you to get hurt for me."

Sasuke snorted. "How should I know, idiot? My body just moved on its own."

* * *

After a day and a night of fighting, Madara had finally shown himself. His entire face was covered by a mask, he wore antique-looking armor, and a huge battle-fan was strapped across his back.

"This is it," Shikamaru told the remaining members of his platoon. "It stands to reason that his invulnerability jutsu costs him chakra, so he probably can't keep it up forever. We've got to outlast him somehow."

"Samurai, stand ready!" Mifune ordered.

Mei clenched her fists. "This is the man who nearly destroyed my country. He will _not_ leave here alive."

"I'll make sure of it," Chojuro assured her. "If I can, that is..."

"How many times have I told you to have more confidence in yourself?" Ao scolded him. "Back in my day..."

"Look, he's doing something!" Ino pointed at Madara, who had unsheathed the battle-fan. "I'm detecting a massive build-up of chakra. Fire- and wind-natured."

A mass of black flames appeared between the Shinobi Alliance and the remaining Zetsu clones, who stood gathered around Madara. Madara swung the battle-fan, and the flames began to spread across the battlefield. The wind from the battle-fan helped the flames to spread, so that they were soon racing across the gap between the two forces.

"My gods," E breathed.

"Quick, put up a wall to block it!" Ittan commanded, and the Stone ninja hurried to respond. Huge slabs of stone raised up from the ground, but the Amaterasu burned effortlessly through them.

"Try suiton jutsu, the strongest ones you've got!" Darui shouted. "Coordinate them so they're all going up at the same time!" A variety of waves, geysers, and reverse waterfalls sprang up in the path of the flames. There was a loud hissing sound as the water evaporated under Amaterasu's heat, and the deadly conflagration continued to advance through the steam. Adding wind chakra had caused it to expand, and there was no way the massed shinobi army could get out of range of the wall of black flame.

Kakashi could feel the intense heat, and hear the crackling sound of trees and grass burning. Even boulders seemed to be melting. _It's huge, but it's still only a single jutsu. If the flames were gone, the wind itself wouldn't do too much harm._ He reached into a pocket of his jounin vest and pulled out a glass vial reinforced with seals. A red liquid sloshed within, given to him by Tsunade for just such an emergency.

_Tsunade-sama, last of the Senju._ The shinobi were still trying to put up walls of water and stone, and huge summons were moving toward the front line. Kakashi saw Katsuyu engulfing some of the ninja, while Gamabunta planted himself in front of a group of genin, the flames reflected in his golden eyes. A team of Mist-nin had sequestered the medical tents within a barrier ninjutsu, and Sasuke erected the three great gates of Rashomon. But Kakashi knew that it wouldn't be enough. Even on its own, Amaterasu could burn through any substance known to man, and with the reinforcement of wind jutsu there was no hope of stopping it.

Kakashi deactivated the protective seals on the vial and squeezed it in his fist. It shattered, and he felt the slivers of glass cut into his palm. The liquid inside the vial dripped across the palm of his hand, seeping into the cuts made by the vial itself.

_"Kakashi-san, this is for you. We don't know what Madara's capabiliites are, and there's a possibility that he could blindside us with something, with disastrous consequences. If such a situation ever arises, use this."_

The vial had contained a small amount of Tsunade's blood. Kakashi could feel it now, mixing with his own. Tsunade's primary chakra type was earth, one that Kakashi also possessed, so his chakra system adapted well to the intrusion of foreign chakra.

More important than Tsunade's elemental nature, though, was her Senju heritage. Kakashi felt a tingling in his left eye as the Senju and Uchiha cells in him met. The tingling quickly grew into a stinging sensation, and then into a throbbing pain.

The roaring of the approaching flames filled his ears, and all he could smell was burning vegetation. Only one of his eyes could see through the steam and smoke. All around him, people were bracing for Amaterasu's impact.

_Obito, thank you for your gift._

"Sasuke-san, can you turn off Amaterasu's flames?" Killer Bee called out.

"I'm trying, but it doesn't seem to work on an Amaterasu that isn't mine!"

_It's saved my life so many times._

"Taijuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Naruto created a mass of clones that stood on top of each other's shoulders, forming a wall thirty feet high in front of the army.

_I promised that you would live on through me, and you have. _

Kakashi began to run toward the front lines. He dashed up one side of a doton wall and down the other, wove around various summons, and pushed his way between two of Naruto's clones.

_Now, I will use your gift for the last time._

A green blur arrived next to Kakashi. "Behold, the splendor of Youth! The Noon Tiger, Hirudora!" The air shimmered like a heat wave, seeming to take on the form of a great, snarling beast. It punched a hole through the center of the Amaterasu and continued on towards Madara's position, but the surrounding flames quickly spread to fill in the gap.

Gai turned to Kakashi, and he knew that his friend had been left too exhausted by the use of seven Gates to retreat back behind the various protective barriers. "It's been an honor to be your eternal rival, Kakashi-san."

"It's not over yet, Gai-san," Kakashi said.

_Goodbye, Obito._

"Izanagi!"

* * *

"Why do you resist so strenuously?" Madara and Naruto stood across from each other, with barely twenty feet of space between them. The surviving village leaders stood in a semicircle behind Naruto, while Madara was backed up by the real Zetsu.

"Because you want to put everyone on earth into a gigantic illusion!" Naruto shot back. "Who _wouldn't_ resist something like that?"

"Look around you, Naruto!" Madara gestured to the battlefield. What had once been a lush plain dotted by occasional groves and rock formations had been reduced to barren wasteland pockmarked by craters. There were numerous bodies on the ground, and many injured soldiers clustered around the medical tents. "This is hardly the first war that the shinobi world has endured, nor will it be the last! This is what comes of having many separate countries, each with their own leaders and their own policies. They clash with each other, and bloodshed results. The only way for humankind to have a peaceful future is to be united under one banner!"

"But why should that banner be yours?" Gaara broke in. "You wish to _force_ people into unity. That is not true peace."

"It's the only kind of peace that can exist," Madara said. "Wishing for people to come to an understanding is a waste of time."

"Is it?" Naruto demanded. "You say, 'look around you', but _you're_ the one who refuses to see. The people of seven nations have put aside their differences and come together to fight you! They may disagree about a lot of things, but they all agree that they want to be free to choose their own destinies!"

"And how long do you think that will last? Suppose you _do_ defeat me. This alliance will fall apart soon enough, once the threat has passed and your petty squabbles resurface."

"We won't let that happen! We'll make sure that the bonds forged between us today last!"

"You talk about it like it will be so easy. It won't be."

"That's true," Mifune interjected. "But neither shinobi nor samurai have ever shied away from doing something just because it wasn't easy. What has happened here today is unprecedented in the history of the world. It is the perfect time to forge a new way of life that is equally unprecedented."

Madara snorted derisively. "And you would allow yourself to be swayed by this child's dream, Mifune?"

"It's not just my dream!" objected Naruto. "Ero-sennin believed in it too! So did Nagato-san, and Sandaime-sama, and my parents!"

"Then they were all fools! I've been around a long time, Naruto, and I've gained enough wisdom to know that people will never choose peace voluntarily. Force and deception are the only ways to unite mankind."

"I see," said Naruto, and he formed the seal for his signature jutsu. A thousand copies of himself materialized, and as everyone watched, they all began to glow with the energy of Sage Mode. Each one raised its hands, and an earsplitting squeal filled the battlefield as a thousand Fuuton:Rasenshuriken formed. "If that's what it means to be wise..." In the blink of an eye, the clones moved to surround Madara and protect the village leaders, so quickly that they appeared to have teleported.

"...then I'd be happier living the rest of my life as a fool!"

* * *

**A/N:** Phew, this took a long time to write! I know that I may have people grouped together differently from the platoons we saw in the recent chapters, but all these are taking place when the battle's already underway, so I figure people may have moved to pursue targets or been redeployed to assist struggling allies.

If anyone's interested, a few notes on the individual drabbles:

Haku and Yagura: I like the idea of the bloodline purges (and maybe the graduation exam too?) in Mist being due to Madara's influence.

The two Raikage: I'm not making the current Raikage's name up; it's actually "E" in canon.

Naruto and Akisane vs Nagato/Pain: I know that people whose souls are sealed with Shiki Fuujin don't go to the normal afterlife, but we saw that part of Minato's soul was sealed into Naruto instead of the Shinigami's stomach, and I figured that part of him is what conveyed the Hiraishin seals.

Naruto vs Madara: The last line in this story is a quote of what Naruto said to Jiraiya when Jiraiya tried to convince him to give up on Sasuke.

I hope you all enjoyed this!


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